Korean Job Discussion Forums

[jaganath69]

I was taking stock of the four years I have spent here the other day and recalling the many Koreans I have met. It struck me that almost all of the Korean people I know are middle class. I have rarely had anything to do with Koreans who work with their hands or in lower-paid jobs, save for superficial interactions that usually involve me buying something. I guess it's due to the nature of the work that most of us do; education is not cheap and I guess that you're more likely to be exposed to people in a higher income bracket. So, my question is, do you have any working class Korean friends? If so, do you find their outlook on life, perception of us or anything else different from the run-of-the-mill middle class people most of us tend to meet? Interested to hear your experiences and thoughts.

[bosintang]

[indytrucks]

I once had a student whose father was a bus driver. I suppose that counts as 'working class.' Anyway, I asked her one day what her father thought about her studying English, and she told me he was all for it as he thought it could pave the way for bigger and better things for her than he had or could provide. This girl was a top notch student as well, by necessity more than anything else, as she had to qualify for scholarships or else couldn't afford the uni.

Same the world over in this instance, I reckon.

[bosintang]

There are always exceptions, but there is a huge difference between the English levels of the middle class and the working class.

My school is located in a middle-class neighbourhood, but because of overcrowding in the nearby working-class neighbourhoods , lots of kids get bussed to my school, so the school is about 50/50 working class /middle class.

I ride the bus to school everyday with the working class kids. Sure enough, those same kids will all be in the lower-level classes.

[Muffin]

When I was in Korea, I thought about this sometimes. All my Korean friends were from well-off families, although one of my best Korean friend's father is a well-off pig farmer. The pig farmer was lovely and so was his wife (a hairdresser).

My interactions with other working class Koreans was limited of course due to opportunity and language, but on the whole I found bus drivers, taxi drivers and my gate guards very kind. I didn't get much insight into their lives beyond their roles at work. Money is everything in Korea so I guess it is not much fun being near the bottom of the pile.

[jaganath69]

I'm at the opposite end of the scale. I teach first grade at an immersion school, one of two in the country I am told, where tuition runs at around 600k a month, without the add-ons. I took a straw poll of the kids in my class before the break and asked where they were going. The answers ranged from Brazil to Spain to China and the USA. I get along with the kids fine because they are pretty worldly and having been exposed to new things show the occasional tendency to think outside the box, despite the crap they still ingest.

[bosintang]

A unionised bus driver in Korea actuallly makes about the same as an average ESL teacher.

Hardly a fortune, but not impoverishment levels either. In the realm of opportunity, I'd put them a notch above the people slaving away in the mom and pop shops, the factories, and the junkyards.

[dogshed]

The most fluent local adults in my town are the brother and sister
that pump my gas.